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Oracle's Tenure with the JLA, Part 3: Issues

Last time, Oracle was called on by the League to aid in their information gathering, but she had a few stumbling moments. Hopefully she might start pulling things together (thanks in no part to her solo operations) and showing her true potential...

Lois and Clark are at a press conference where General Wade Eiling unveils a contingent of "Ultramarines" who will be the U.S. metahuman force answerable to the government (or not, as we'll see). One problem: the publicly presented backstory is false; Clark can tell Eiling is lying. So why does Eiling need to cover-up the origins of his elite unit?

Aquaman returns with Kyle Rayner after they were ambushed trying to recover the Shaggy Man from an oceanic prison cell.

The alien invasion is a falsified event so the military can draw in the JLA and attack them. Because?

Because Wade Eiling is batshit insane*. Seriously, how over-confident is he about newly minted heroes versus the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman (who might have been off their radar), simply because they had Marine training first? No offense to all our beloved Devil Dogs out there. An argument was raised earlier that Morrison's League doesn't practice tactics and strategy like other teams; I call bullshit. The Hyperclan fights they switched up opponents. The Angelic invasion they made use of a multi-prong counter-attack. These guys have experience enough to divide and conquer AND use their offensive powers in unconventional ways in combat.

*I don't even want to mention how many laws that guy is breaking with his actions. Also, any subordinate officer worth his salt would have known Eiling was off the reservation and relieved him of command. Seriously, acts of war on U.S. soil? That crap can't be authorized by someone at the general's level.

Another thing that bother's me about Oracle in these earlier stories is how her contributions to the group don't even seem that "extra"-ordinary. Her information sources are implied to be disparate and of varying validity, and her sensor equipment (wherever and whatever it is) isn't able to tell the difference between a "simulated" invasion and a real one (which would be a kind of important distinction later on). With people who have "super vision," what good is satellite imaging?

Anyways, the Ultramarines are defeated (by old-school psy-ops no less), the general is exiled to an asteroid in space (he stole the Shaggy Man's body to gain immortality and power), and again Oracle gets to take emails and surf conspiracy theory sites.

Her next appearance is three issues later when an Amazo 'droid is found by the League (man, these things just pop up everywhere).

"Jinkies, how are we gonna stop this thing, gang?" said Velma posing as Barbara Gordon.

Yeah, super-scientists in the DCU are bastards. So, the creature doesn't seem to be slowing down, but maybe if Barbara gets some new players in the field...

Nope. Bad idea all around. While you'd think this would be something she'd pick up on to solve the case, Mark Millar (who wrote this story) forcibly shoves the Idiot Ball into her hands, so Ray Palmer can be reintroduced as a complete bad-ass scientist. To be fair, the entire issue has everyone (even BATMAN) being given the Idiot Ball so the Atom can seem like the smartest hero in the world ("Amazo gets more powers with each new member? Disband the League!" Really, Sherlock? That never would've occurred to any of us).

This little meeting between Oracle and Atom is also a bit of a continuity snag with the DC One Million mini-series, but we'll get to that next time.

I'll leave you with Oracle's last "single-issue appearance" before we get to WWIII. The real WWIII, where everyone the planet gets superpowers, Morrison conjures up his own Fourth World concept, and Oracle realizes she's grown beyond her surroundings.

Spoilers: The JSA's new Thunderbolt wielder, Jakeem, pulls everyone's bacon out of the fire in the end. There are some great moments by Ted, Alan and Jay, however, and a reference to Aquaman's old 5th dimensional foe so track down the Justice for All trade if you don't have it.

I still don't really see your beef here, but whatever floats your boat. Although I never noticed the Atom/Oracle mistake before (because yeah, in One Million, the fact that Oracle and Atom meet face-to-face -- relatively -- is touched upon as a big deal).

From what I recall of One Million (and it has been a while since I've read it), where you as disappointed with Oracle's portrayal in there as opposed to the main JLA title?

Not really, and that, leading in to WWIII, it reads like she has learned a lot being in the JLA, and she can rally the troops and lead from her workstation. But earlier tales just read as not making good use of her potential. There just weren't any good beats for her in these issues. But next is One Million and then WWIII (which includes her confrontation with Prometheus). It's a lot better.

I'm pretty sure Zauriel shows up in the background in group-fight scenes. I know he was one of the airborne heroes who fought Superbitch Prime in "Infinite Crisis", and there were angels in "Final Crisis" as well. He may have popped up in "Sinestro Corps War" as well, but only in the background.

The last comic specifically about Zauriel was during the "Helmet of Fate" miniseries, wasn't it?

He was a lot more fun here. Morrison did pretty great with Zauriel, because it was a character he and Millar created when they had to have "a Hawkman type" without being able to use Hawkman. So they kind of went with the obvious, an angel, but a non-obvious interpretation of an angel.

I don't blame Oracle for failing to come up with a plausible technical solution to what is, at heart, a problem (and solution) that exists solely in narrative terms - Morrison being cute with "stories" again. It's like changing a number on a blackboard suddenly allowing bricks to fly.

I can enjoy a story as a series of events within a reality in which I suspend disbelief, or I can enjoy the craft of how the story is assembled. Not both at once. Morrison is too fond of waving his sausages in my face and telling me exactly how they were prepared and isn't he clever? (Urp.)

As a geeky aside, I am rather amused by "stock footage" of a half-assed spacestation that came crashing down on Australia 20 years ago being used to depict a modern surveillance satellite (in the last scan). Still, I suppose the CIA hardly publishes photos of the latest Keyholes for artist's reference... not even in AvLeak.

It's not that, it's the order of publication versus internal reference to events. Hourman first "appeared" in the JLA series at the end of the Ultramarines arc, and hinted at the Crisis Times Five arc, at the end of which would've been DC One Million (the full reason he came). But before that, was the issue with Amazo (immediately after, and internal dialogue places is as between the two arcs), where the Atom popped over to Oracle's office (which in-universe would've been the first time they met).

One Million was published before that JLA issue, but Morrison's own internal plotting fudges that. He places the Amazo interaction "before" the Justice Legion A visit and subsequent disaster.

JLA #27 was published March 1999, the entire DC One Million mini was published November of 1998. But it's set "after" it. Thus, Atom and Oracle "meet" for the first time, but not really, but really.

Extras

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